Shifting rail for top-carriages



. (N0 Model.)

G.-H..HERSEY. SHIFTING RAIL 150R TOP GARRIAGES.

Patented Mar. 24, 1896.

i mwnm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE ll. IIERSEY, OF NElVBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHIFTING RAIL FOR TOP-CARRIAGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 556,977, dated March 24, 1896.

Application filed November 8, 1895. Serial No. 568,282. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. l-lERsEY, of Newburyport, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Shifting Rails for Top-Carriages, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in shifting rails for topcarriages, and the object of it is to allow the quick removal of the top from a carriage, and also to admit of the equally quick replacing of the top on the carriage whenever it becomes necessary to do so, thus converting a topbuggy into an open road-wagon, or vice versa,

in one-half of a minute or less, and entirely without the aid of a monkey-wrench or other tool.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention as applied to an ordinary topbuggy.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a buggyseat with my shifting rail B attached, with thumb-screws removed. Fig. 2 shows a side view of the shifting rail B and a view of the sliding jaw A and the support D, which is attached to the seat C. In this view thumbscrews E are in place. Fig. 3 is a full-sized view of the sliding jaw A. Fig. A is a front view of the sliding jaw A, showing the vertical section of the shifting rail B. Fig. 5 shows the thumb-screw E.

Similar letters refer to the same parts throughout the several views.

The object of the invention is attained as follows:

The sliding jaw A, which is attached to and is a part of the shifting rail B, is made to slide onto the iron support D, which it fits snugly, but not too snugly to prevent an easy removal,

and is held in place on the support D by the thumb-screw E.

Heretofore shifting rails have been held in place by bolts and nuts which require a menkey-wrench to loosen, and the removal of a shifting rail and top consumes considerable time, while in my invention one-half of a minute is all the time required for the loosening of the thumb-screws and sliding of the shifting rail and top from the supports, and all is accomplished without the use of tools of any kind.

Ileretofore with the old shifting rail all the nuts had to be taken off and the top lifted bodily from the sockets, thereby rendering the danger of straining and injuring the bows and top very great, while in my invention the thumb-screws are simply loosened and the shifting rail and top are easily and safely slid from their supports.

I claim as my invention 1. In a shifting rail the combination of the jaw A which is attached to and a part of the rail B, the support D and the thumb-screw E substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a shifting rail the combination of the jaws A which are attached to and are a part of the rail 13, the supports D which are attached to the seat 0, said jaws A being capable of removal by sliding backward in a plane parallel to said seat 0, substantially in the manner described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 6th day of November, A. D. 1895.

GEORGE H. HERSEY.

.Vitnesses:

FRANK G. STONE, S. CLINE. 

